


wine that's all too strange and strong

by fleete



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Drunkenness, F/F, Guys and Dolls, Musicals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-21
Updated: 2013-02-21
Packaged: 2017-12-03 04:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/694194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleete/pseuds/fleete
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Guys and Dolls AU.  </p><p>"Ask me how do I feel."</p>
            </blockquote>





	wine that's all too strange and strong

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LoveChilde](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveChilde/gifts).



> This ficlet is based on the musical Guys and Dolls, particularly the scene during which Sarah sings ["If I Were a Bell."](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLooMzB_lgc)
> 
> The title is from a song from a subsequent scene, "I've Never Been in Love Before."

“Ask me how do I feel.”

Morgana looked up from under the brim of her hat. “How do you feel?”

Sister Gwen sways gently to the far-off tune of a guitar. Her prim little jacket is completely unbuttoned, exposing her button-up shirt, and even though there’s not a single extra inch of skin in view, there’s something tawdry about it, at least on Gwen.

Morgana sighs. The bet is won and done. She took the proper young Sister Gwen to Havana: met her, wooed her, talked her into coming away with her. There’s a certain weight in Morgana’s chest, though. Now that Gwen is spinning, drunk and happier than Morgana’s yet seen her, this whole endeavor has begun to feel…wrong.

“I feeeeel…” Gwen spins the word out long and blinks up at the sky, considering. The church bell chooses that moment to chime midnight. “Oh! Like a bell! I feel like a bell.”

“A bell,” Morgana repeats. She can’t help but smile. Even if it’s wrong, the completely unreserved delight on Gwen’s face is infectious.

“Yes. Happy. Like a bell. Ringing.” She flaps her hands a bit to illustrate, and the movement travels all the way up into her shoulders. Morgana nods understandingly.

Gwen narrows her eyes and shakes a finger at Morgana. “Oh, I know. _I_ can’t be like a bell. I’m little old…me. Sister Gwen with the quiet upbringing. But I am.”

“Like a bell?”

Gwen nods energetically. “Like a bell. It’s just—” and here she stumbles, and Morgana catches her, and then there they are, pressed chest to chest. Gwen’s mouth drops open. “It’s just we have such chemistry, and..” She appears to lose her train of thought and nuzzles into Morgana’s neck.

Morgana clears her throat. “Chemistry?” she reminds her.

“Yes! Chemistry!” Gwen taps a finger against Morgana’s nose. “You just…you just looked so wonderful tonight, Morgana.” She laughs. “I knew my morals would crack, and see, they have!” Gwen makes a quick play for a kiss, but Morgana averts her head and gently pushes her away.

Morgana may be a gambler, but she is a _honest_ gambler, and taking a drunk woman to bed is the kind thing only a low-down crook would do.

Gwen distracts her by smoothing a hand up Morgana’s side. “Ask me how do I feel,” she whispers.

“I think it’s time to go,” Morgana says.

Gwen lets Morgana tug her away from the fountain, but stills insists, “Ask me how I feel.”

“I thought you felt like a bell.”

“Yes, exactly!” The smile on her Gwen’s face is positively beatific, and Morgana finds herself having thoughts. Not even dirty thoughts, either, but white-dress, picket-fence kind of thoughts. 

Lord, what a doll.


End file.
